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Welcome to December! In the US we are all pretty fired up to
have a fab new president, ok... well, its over and that is a good
thing as witnessed by the collective yawn we have heard from across
the pond. Christmas looks good in Midgard land, 1.4 is close to
finalized and there is measurable progress towards 2.0. It looks
like Santa's elf, Emile, will have all sorts of packages for us in
a few weeks. At the same time, Ami has some good reading which will
eventually get us to Midgard version 2 in the new year!

Contents:
Editor's Note
Alexander Bokovoy adds to the potential programmer pool
Sensing the needs of Midgard V2 storage the Bokovoys look to the future.
1.4 final release targeted for Christmas
It is close and we are looking for Santa drop off cool toys.
Midgard 2.0 has its first early release.
Ami Ganguli on where we go from here.

Alexander Bokovoy adds to the potential programmer pool.
All he needs is a laptop and a few diapers and he is on the way.
Alexander reports his son was born on December 5th, he weighed in
at 3420g and was 52cm tall. There was no word as to whether
Repligard proved useful during the duplication process. While he
has yet to be named I have suggested that LDAP has a certain
progressive ring to it, Alexander 2.0 works too....
1.4 final release targeted for Christmas
Emile has let it be known that Christmas is the target date for the
final release of Midgard 1.4. Santa is promising a few packages,
Red Hat, Mandrake, maybe a little Debian as well as a fine
assortment of Tarballs. Alexander and Alexander 2.0 have gotten
most of Repligard done with a little work on partial import/export
and blob export left to consider next week. Ndemeno Tegomoh has
rewritten the older installation guide and his new work will be
included with the final version of 1.4. Also included will be the
new MOVE demo website which is being buffed and polished as we
speak. We are currently in a feature freeze and Emile would be
quite pleased if everybody would try out beta 7 so we can track
down whatever bugs are left before we ship. Somewhere around the
20th, Emile, Alexander and a cast of hundreds will start assembling
the final packages for distribution.
Midgard 2.0 has its first early release.
Ami Ganguli has been working on Midgard 2.0 and has released a very
early release of what will eventually be Midgard 2.0. While very
limited this release provides a concrete mile-post; marking where
2.0 is and raising issues which are upcoming. Ami has a specific
list, in the release notes, of what needs are coming and he would
welcome help addressing them in the coming weeks and months.

This early release has a number of important early features,
though little actual functionality. Perhaps most important is an
early formation of the more object based structure which will
characterize Version 2. This modularity has been one of the stated
goals for the new version from the start. A more modular approach
will encourage third party developments, who would extend and add
functionality to Midgard's core, while giving existing developers
more control over their implementation. The release notes also
mention the need to look into the new Php embedding API,
alternative data storage options, multiple data source integration
and build systems.

It is clear that this is to be a complete rewrite of the Midgard
application as well as a reconsideration of the manner in which the
application does things. On one hand Ami has a schedule for at
least one rewrite from scratch of the API in the near future;
partly to put into practice from what is being learned from these
early versions and partly to get rid of that wonderful stream on
conscious code that I think we have all written at some point. (
you know that code that meanders from point to point and has
variables named after your coffee cup) On the other hand there is
still the opportunity for feature prototyping and feature refining.
Over the last months there has been a great deal of discussion
about what and how the ideal Midgard would serve our needs, now is
the time to start to make sure that Midgard is what it needs to
be.

To that end Ami would appreciate input from us all.
Understandably a lot of people are focused on getting 1.4 out the
door and on to new and existing services. As good as 1.4 is, 2.0
has been a goal for a lot of us for quite awhile, once 1.4 is
running development of 2.0 should be a fairly rapid. These early
pre-alpha versions suggest a great deal for the eventual form and
function of Midgard 2 but they also can be seen as a fluid
discussion that might find new means to the final product.

About Midgard
Midgard 1.4 is a content publishing tool for small and medium sized
sites. It is based on Apache, MySQL and PHP. The application and
its documentation are licensed GPL, LGPL and GFDL. This licensing
strategy guarantees that developers, webmasters, ISPs, and business
managers are investing in a strategy where they're free to share
solutions and participate in the application design.

About MWS
The Midgard Weekly Summary is a bi-weekly newsletter for the
Midgard user and developer community, as well as the extended web
community. If you would like to release it or publish it, please
contact Ken Pooley (kpooley@sewanee.edu).

Previous issues of Midgard Weekly Summary can be found archived
at the Midgard web site.

Midgard mailing list.
The Midgard mailing list is one of the most vital and visible
aspects of the Midgard Community. Questions get answered,
suggestions debated and work gets done. E-mail: midgard@greywolves.org